House of Shennib

Shennib

Flag of Cyrenaica, Libyan Royal Court
Ethnicity	Libyan
Current region	Cyrenaica, Libya
Place of origin	Andalusia, Spain
Members	Omar Faiek Shennib Ahmed Fouad Shennib Abdul-Aziz Shennib
Estate	Bayt Shennib, Cyrenaica

Omar Faiek Shennib
Omar Faiek Shennib, to the right of King Idris al Senussi in 1951
Born	Derna, Ottoman Empire
Died	28 July,1953 (aged 69–70)
Title	Minister of Defence of Libya, Chief of Royal Diwans, Vice President of National Assembly

Wanis al-Qaddafi ونيس القذافي
Prime Minister of Libya
In office 4 September 1968 – 31 August 1969
Foreign Minister of Libya
In office 1962–1963
Personal details
Died	December 1986 (aged 62)

The House of Shennib (Arabic: بيت شنيب‎‎ Bayt Shennib) is one of Libya's prominent families. The House of Shennib includes notable public figures who have played a significant part in 20th century Libyan history: heads of state, ministers, authors and diplomats. The family's history is intrinsically tied with the creation of the State of Libya with members of Bayt Shennib playing prominent roles in the defeat of colonial Italian Libya, the creation of the unified Libyan state after World War II. The most notable members of the family include Omar Faiek Shennib, Ahmed Fouad Shennib, Wanis al-Qaddafi (no relation to Muamar Gaddafi) and Abdul-Aziz Shennib. The historical seat of Bayt Shennib is Derna, Cyrenaica.

On April 3, 2013 the family's significant contributions to the Libyan people were publicly recognized by the current Libyan government and their honors restored, if in name only.

The area of Bi'r`Ayt Shinnib west of Derna is named after the family.

Omar Faiek Shennib (Arabic: سيدعمر الفايق شنيب‎‎ Sayyid Omar Fayek Shennib) was Libya's first Minister of Defense, Head of the Royal Court (Diwan), Vice President of the Libyan National Assembly under the reign of King Idris Al Senussi. Sayyid Omar Shennib was the patriarch of the current House of Shennib. Shennib served as President of the Cyrenaican delegation to the United Nations in the post-war period and was instrumental in the creation of a unified Libyan state in the years immediately following World War II following the withdrawal of Axis forces from the North African coast. Together with Idris, Shennib was part of the 1941 delegation to the UN which put forth the case for the unification of the three traditional free standing regions, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan into the single nation state of Libya. Following independence on 24 December 1951, he was appointed Head of the Royal Court (the Royal Diwan)

Sayyid Omar Shennib served as Vice President of the Libyan National Assembly until his death and was a signatory to the first Libyan Constitution.